Government to take Altaf to task for asking Nato and India to intervene

ISLAMABAD: The government on Sunday announced that it would approach the British government and its metropolitan police with an ‘open legal reference’ against Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain.

Speaking at a press conference here, interior minister Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan said that inviting Nato troops and an enemy state – India – to intervene in security matters of Pakistan by Altaf Hussain “is not acceptable as Pakistan is a sovereign state”.

“How come you call upon Nato to send its troops to a sovereign country like Pakistan or an enemy state like India to intervene in what Altaf Hussain says to protect the rights of Muhajirs in Karachi…this is tantamount to waging a war against the state of Pakistan,” he maintained.

He said that the government has started work on the reference, which would be a legal open document against Altaf Hussain, adding the reference would be sent to the British government and the metropolitan police and the latter is already working on two major cases against Altaf Hussain.

“We had been giving documentary proofs to British government that one of their citizens [Altaf Hussain] has been inciting his followers to stage sit-ins in front of UN offices and to pick up arms. This is a conspiracy against Pakistan by sitting on British soil and after his yesterday’s speech, parts of which were telecast by televisions, will be sent to British government, seeking a stern action against its citizen,” he declared.

The interior minister said that the government of Pakistan is co-operating with British government regarding two major cases – Dr Imran Farooq’s murder and the money laundering cases – and would continue to do so in future.

The main reason, Nisar said, the MQM chief is bent upon ridiculing the armed forces of Pakistan and its security institutions, is because the British government had tightened the screw around him, adding Altaf Hussain was afraid of the cases against him in the British courts and the ones he had been facing in the Pakistani courts.

“He [Altaf] knows that he has been sitting in the UK for the last 25 years and he won’t come back [to Pakistan] even in the next 25 years, and his outburst against Pakistani security agencies is mainly due to co-operation we’ve been extending to Britain in the money laundering and Imran Farooq murder cases,” he maintained.

He said that the Karachi operation had borne fruits and the latest figures of crimes in July show that the kidnapping for ransom cases have gone down by 100 percent, targeted killings by 50 percent, extortion cases by 87 percent compared to one half years ago, adding there was only one bank robbery last month. “This reflects the difference we have made compared to ongoing operations against criminals in Karachi,” he said, “adding it became possible only due to co-operation of all political parties”.

He especially lauded the role of chief minister Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah, saying his co-operation despite all the political pressure, is commendable “as he never hesitated when it was time to crackdown against the criminals”.

Nisar said that all political parties’ activists involved in criminal activities were rounded up, but none of them objected except MQM, adding there were some activists of PPP, Jamaat-e-Islami, ANP, Shabab-e-Milli who were also arrested but it was only MQM which started a hue and cry.

After coming into power, the interior minister said the prime minister had taken a principled decision in consultation with all political parties, including MQM, to purge the metropolitan city of criminals, and it will continue unless the city is cleared of criminals and the mafias.

Except Altaf Hussain, he said no one can raise fingers on any member of MQM that how patriotic he or she is, adding “they are as patriotic as we are, but a single person sitting in London along with a handful of people within the MQM is ridiculing the security institutions of Pakistan, which can not be tolerated”.

The minister also claimed that he helped the MQM on numerous occasions on different occasions, adding the Rangers wanted to present a factsheet about their raid on `90′ some months back, but he stopped it, saying there are some good people, whose patriotism could not be questioned.

“Even then this man [Altaf Hussain] is consistently busy in ridiculing the armed forces of Pakistan, the Rangers and the police, threatening them with dire consequences, but enough is enough and the time has come we proceed against him with a legal reference and let the country know from where he has been conspiring against Pakistan,” he maintained.